In responses to a WESH 2 News public records request for text messages from Orange County’s mayor and commissioners, Orange County government provided hundreds of pages of documents and CD photo images Wednesday.

"You don’t want to have to be the one who has to stand up and say, 'Oh, yeah, I messed up,'" said commissioner Fred Brummer.

Brummer said he "messed up" two ways on Sept. 11, the day of a public hearing on a proposed referendum that would force businesses with 15 or more employees to provide paid sick leave.

Brummer said he first messed up by texting with four lobbyists representing sick pay opponents, including Universal and Darden, while not paying close enough attention to the people in the commission chambers, offering public comment. He said the lobbyists were just curious about the progress of the meeting and not coaching him on how to vote.

"After three months time I think trying to remember to quote a man is impossible," said Brummer. "I mean they knew where I was on the issue all the way through."

His second "mess up" was deleting those messages that, according to documents cannot be retrieved.

Neither can the messages from commissioner Jennifer Thompson.

The investigation revealed that in September Thompson texted with a Disney lobbyist 32 times on the day of the public hearing, but those messages deemed public records by the State Attorney General’s Office remain a secret.

"There’s been some really shady things going on at the county and they are trying to hide it. They’re trying to pretend that their text messages are not public record," said Citizens For A Greater Orange County spokeswoman Maria McCluskey.

The citizens group behind the sick pay measure is suing, saying that Mayor Teresa Jacobs and commissioners violated opening meetings and public records laws when they voted to delay the sick pay measure, which ultimately left it off the ballot.

"Citizens should have been able to vote on this in the November election and they didn’t," said McCluskey. "And furthermore we can’t even find out the truth about what was going on behind closed doors."

A state attorney spokesman previously told WESH 2 News that it’s unlikely any Orange County elected leaders or staff would be prosecuted for deleting text messages.

In the most significant of the retrieved text messages released by the county Wednesday, it was revealed that the head of the Orange County Republican Party was trying to persuade commissioner Ted Edwards, who ultimately supported the sick pay measure, to reject it.

Lew Oliver told him, "I will also make sure you have three to four other votes even if (Mayor) Teresa (Jacobs) balks." Edwards replied, "Thanks."

In another message, Oliver suggests that the ballot language is vague and should be scrapped.

"Confusion reigns supreme. All we have to do is kick the confusing little can down the road. After that the legislature can deliver the kill shot. We can't risk the court approving it," said Oliver.

"Agrees," Edwards texts back.

Thompson declined an on-camera interview, but in a text message said that all of her text messages prior to Sept. 24 have been deleted permanently and cannot be retrieved.